International Ensemble Modern Academy
Sirius is an important star for Stockhausen’s cosmology – through revelatory dreams, Stockhausen believed he was born and finished his musical education there. He also claimed that on Sirius: „…everything is music or the art of co-ordination and harmony of vibrations. The art is very highly developed there, and every composition on Sirius is related to the rhythms of nature, the seasons, the rhythms of the stars.“ Between 1975–77, Stockhausen composed an eight-channel electronic piece called „Sirius“, in which four emissaries from a planet orbiting the star, bring a message to earth. The title „Stockhausen on Sirius“ came to my mind as a message. I wasn’t looking for it and initially didn’t know what it meant. I liked the image of Stockhausen sitting on Sirius, pondering, and with the composition being performed, I sent the message back as a greeting – an ambient postcard.